Status: Active

Organ transplant is the optimal treatment for end-stage organ disease, but more than 80% of US patients with organ failure are not currently in the transplant system. Population-level data indicates that  patients from marginalized groups suffer from disproportionately lower access to the waitlist, including women, racial and ethnic minorities, the underinsured, geographically isolated, and those with low education or income levels.

In 2022, Duke transplant surgeon, Dr. Lisa McElroy, led the establishment of the Consortium for the Holistic Assessment of Risk in Transplant (CHART) to improve the science of patient selection for transplant. The consortium includes 13 US transplant centers and Duke serves as the data coordinating center. Each center contributes multidimensional deidentified data that reflects the entire continuum of transplant care, from referral through post-transplant outcomes. The Duke Data Coordinating Center Team, led by Ursula Rogers and Tyler Schappe, harmonizes the data from all centers, according to a common data model, and prepares it for analysis.

The current combined CHART cohort includes data for over 150,000 adults referred for abdominal transplant. CHART researchers are using the data to identify drivers of inequities in access to and outcomes after transplant, and to develop novel approaches to transplant-related risk assessment.

AI Health staff member, Andrew Olson, has served as the Administrative Director for the consortium since 2023, and Faculty Council Member, Ricardo Henao, has provided methodological leadership since its founding. Multiple additional staff and faculty affiliates from AI Health are helping to lead the data coordination effort in important ways, including by providing data storage and computational resources, and by applying advanced biostatistical and machine learning methods in risk prediction to enhance the consortium’s work. These collaborations have yielded multiple successful grant awards and publications to date.